Not Running, Not Hiding, A Final Revenge
by maxigrumpling
Summary: Sequel to Run, Hide, Revenge. They left behind loose ends. A new 'boss' is running the show on the Res and Bella and Edward must go back to finish things once and for all. The final solution presents itself in an unlikely form, giving all involved a way to live with the consequences. Edward/Bella, OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**This picks up one year after Edward and Bella leave Forks after ending Jacob.**

 **This will be short too. No place setting, no unnecessary drabble. We know who they are, what they can and can't do and we're all sick of reading about how in love they are.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed the first one. This one will be just as brutal, just as clean cut.**

 **This is finished, just need a little editing time. Chapters will upload all at once as I did last time over the next day or so.**

 **I'm toying with a short epilogue but am not convinced it needs one. I will take all advice on the subject ;)**

 **Cheers,**

 **Maxi**

* * *

The call comes almost one year to the day since we left Forks. I can't say that I'm surprised to receive it. Forks Police have located my Volvo. They've also located a dark blue sedan in the vicinity, though their investigative skills can't have been stretched to the limit to work out that the two vehicles are connected. I'd dumped the Volvo right next to it.

I ask why my car has been found with another and am told that there had been a spate of car thefts in the area and that it's probably just coincidence that they were found together.

I am asked a few questions for insurance purposes and told that I should contact my insurer with the quoted case number.

There are so many crimes connected with those cars that have obviously been overlooked that I pinch the bridge of my nose as I roll through my mind what was said on the call.

"What is it?" Bella asks as she comes to sit by me.

"They've found the Volvo," I tell her simply.

"So?" she shrugs.

"So nothing," I tell her. "They've found it. It's beside the blue sedan and the police think it's part of a stolen car ring."

"I can't see how that's a problem for us. So what's with the nose pinching?" she asks, nudging me in the ribs.

"I don't think the Police have managed to work out what was going on at the Res at all," I sigh. "I think everything we did achieved nothing."

"Not nothing," she growls. "We stopped them cooking and selling drugs. We stopped a whole group of dangerous people doing dangerous things. That's not nothing."

"I'm not sure that we did," I sigh.

"It's not like the police are going to call you and tell you that they've broken up a drug ring, half the cooks are missing presumed dead and the tribal leaders son hasn't ever been seen since his lab burned down," she hisses. "Jesus Edward, they aren't going to tell you squat about those cases. As far as they are concerned your car was found wrecked beside another car. It can't be tied to anything that happened at the Res and they wouldn't tell you even if it had been linked.

"You're just a guy who had his car stolen. That's it."

I can see the logic in her reasoning but something doesn't sit right with me. "Has it ever bothered you that we dropped those boxes off at the police station with a note saying they'd been cooked at the Res and then we burned down the evidence of the cooking?"

She tilts her head to one side and thinks on it hard. "No. I can't honestly say that it has. Until now," she growls as she gets to her feet. "Fuck!" she shouts.

"We fucked up," I say simply.

"How do we fix it?"

She's grinning before I am. She's got a plan before I do.

"Call Alice. Tell her we're heading off on our own for a while," she says, pointing at my chest as she rushes around our living room gathering her things. "We have to go to Forks."

We're in our own home but close enough to Alice that she won't have 'seen' anything untoward so I make the announcement simply and firmly. "Alice, it's me. Bella and I are going to take off for a few days. I'll call you when we get there."

She doesn't balk at the declaration but I'm pretty sure she's got questions besides the ones she does ask. She wants to know where we're heading and I tell what I think she wants to hear. Bella enjoys the sun so we're going to the beach. She knows not to bother with the warning not to be seen sparkling in the sun by humans.

She doesn't seem at all concerned that we're taking off without warning and I'm glad. We've all done it. Taken off on a whim without warning wasn't new. And this isn't the first time Bella and I had done it in the year we've been in Canada with the family. This would be our third impromptu trip.

I run to our room to gather what we'll need. I grab a burner phone from the boxes in the closet as well our drivers licenses in the name of Cullen.

"Don't forget we'll need to be Cullen's," Bella calls from down the hall.

"On it," I tell her. "Are we running, driving or flying?" I ask as I hold my backpack in one hand, the phone and licenses in other.

"Running," she calls back. "Is the Jeep still there?"

"Right where we left it," I tell her as I slip the cards into my wallet and the phone into my pocket.

I meet her in the living room. She's ready to go and bouncing from foot to foot. "Got everything?" she asks as she reaches for my hand.

"I've got you, I'm covered," I grin.

"You're such a sap," she growls playfully as we go towards the front door.

I throw the lock and pull it shut behind us. Emmett waves as we go by his house. We both wave back.

Personally I am pleased to be leaving.

I'd had about enough of the family for a while and I knew without asking that Bella had too.

She sniffs as we run away from our home but I know by now not to be worried about her thirst.

She's never faltered. Never even looked like faltering in all the time we've been together. It's been nine months since I've seen her put her hand to her throat in hunger.

No, my wife and mate hasn't struggled with anything that a newborn vampire does. What she has struggled with is my family. And I've struggled right along with her.

Since the age of eighteen, when she lost her mother, she'd lived as an independent adult. Answerable to no one. Responsible to nobody. In control of her life and her future.

She didn't need a mother, or a father, and being unused to having siblings she found it hard to incorporate them into our personal life.

Since becoming my mate she'd been surrounded by well meaning but very interfering vampires and she didn't like that one bit.

I had no doubt whatsoever that she loved them. All of them. Even Rosalie who had come to love her in return as a sister should. But Bella did dislike them often. All of them.

The first issues arose almost as soon as we arrived in Canada.

We had four separate homes, equally distant from each other, and only a few miles from the cousins homes.

The women in my family had been excited to make over both our house and Bella herself. Bella had other ideas.

She refused to shop. Outright. She didn't care what our house looked like. She liked it when she first saw it even though it was filled with only my furniture choices, and she was happy for it to stay that way. She was happy with the few personal possessions she'd had sent from her home and no amount of cajoling or begging from Alice and Esme had changed her mind about shopping to date.

As for making Bella over she wasn't having that either. She wore jeans and t-shirts and that's the way she was going to stay. Any and all attempts to change that were met with an argument. Bella always won.

So Esme's continual tutting about our use of bad language, Alice' gossipy interfering and demands to shop constantly, Emmett's insistence that she 'play rough' with him, Jasper's continued dismay at her control and Carlisle's incessant hovering in case she should slip drove her quite insane.

The only one who didn't bother her all that much was Rosalie. And that was because Rose didn't give a shit about anyone other than Rose. So if Bella was busy being Bella and it had nothing to do with her Rose was happy to let Bella just be Bella.

The cousins were very promptly put in their places on their second meeting with my feisty mate. Tanya was told with a hiss to stop flirting with me, to stop pouting into the hall mirror and get out and find someone of her own. Kate was told to stop whining about being alone herself and a suggestion was made that she should join Tanya in that search somewhere other than in our home. Irina was told to fuck off outright and take her bullshit attitude about _everything_ with her when she went. Eleazar was less than politely asked to leave our home and to please refrain from badgering Bella into letting him educate her about her abilities to shield and Carmen left with him, offended.

We'd only seen them three times in the past year and that was only when the whole family came together for Thanksgiving, Christmas and once when I'd been too preoccupied with the breast in my mouth to read the mental thoughts of them approaching our home. I'd let them in, they'd stayed half an hour and left again after being told to go.

I wouldn't stand for anyone dictating to Bella what sort of vampire mate she should be. The mere suggestion that she should be more demure, or more accommodating to our visitors rankled me as much as it did Bella and in the end I'd told them all to go and take their personal opinions with them.

I still wasn't very popular with them.

I didn't always agree with her, despite what Alice thought. We argued between us too. I thought she'd been too hard and too rude to Eleazar, she didn't. I wanted her to learn more about her gift, she didn't want to. I wanted to buy her nice things, she didn't want them.

We argued plenty, just like we had from day one after her change.

I liked it that way.

I didn't want a compliant, pushover of a wife. I wanted an independent, strong woman who knew what she liked and wanted. She got that in return from me, a husband not a wife obviously, and I figured that she wanted me to let her know what I wanted, so I did.

I had an opinion and felt free to voice it. My old fashioned ideals were soon bought up to modern code and we lived happily together, fights and all.

My original reasoning for running still stood. I didn't want to share her. I just wanted to be left alone to get to know here properly and for the two of us to be given the space we needed to grow our relationship. Bella felt the same.

So I am quite happy to be running away again.

The snow is thick on the ground and very compacted so it's slowish going for the first couple of hours. She can't streak ahead of me anymore now that her newborn strength has waned. I think she misses it. I don't.

The run is glorious once we come to the outskirts of Victoria. We board the ferry with the other on-foot travellers and hang over the railing to watch the water go by just like everyone else. It's all so very human after living purely as a vampire for the better part of the last year.

"It's weird, isn't it?" she whispers beside me.

I grin because she's been thinking what I have. "It is," I agree. "We don't do this often enough."

I pull her to me, our hips meeting and kiss her hair. "We won't have to go cruising through town this time," I chuckle.

She pouts adorably, "Oh, that means no five hundred questions."

"We'll play as we run to Forks," I assure her.

And that's what we do. We run from Port Angeles to Forks and ask hundreds of questions of one another as we go. Just when I think I've learned all there is to know about my wife I learn something new. It's the same for her though I've got more than a hundred years of history for her to learn. Her twenty seven years seems much more thrilling than all of mine ever have.

She sighs happily when we cross our own feint scents in the forest at the back of the property and she whoops in joy when we hit the decking at the back of the house.

"I love it here," she tells me as I unlock the doors and we go inside. She pulls the dust cover off my piano and runs her fingers over its lid. Next she uncovers the armchairs and sinks down into her favourite one. "You popped my cherry in this house," she smirks.

"You popped mine in this house too," I counter as I turn on the lights. I sink down in my own favourite chair and take a good, long sniff. "It smells like home."

"It does," she says as she sniffs too. "Where do we start this time?" she asks.

"Well I was hoping you'd be bored already and offer me a blow job, but if you want we can go to the Res and see what's what," I chuckle.

"I'm _so_ bored," she says exaggeratedly, "blow job it is."

At midnight we head to the Res. It doesn't take us long to slip back into our old routine, though this time it's Bella calling for me to wait for her as we run. We follow our own scent to the boundary and she pulls me up short just as I'm about to cross onto Reservation land.

"Look," she hisses, pointing near my feet.

A trip wire. We step over it carefully and go on ahead a little ways until we come across another. "Someone doesn't want walk ins," she whispers as the ruins of the cooking shed come into view. They sit right next to a new shed with the same stench as before coming from it.

"They're cooking again," she hisses beside me.

"We fucked up," I remind her.

We watch a little longer but when it becomes obvious that we're just watching the past repeat itself we head for home. We run in silence. She's probably running over plans in her head the same as I am as we run.

"What do we do?" she asks once we're back in the house. "We can't just go there and slaughter everyone involved. Can we?" she asks, eyebrows raised, probably hoping I'll think it's a great idea.

"No. We can't," I confirm, making her scowl. "What we can do is try to work out who's running the operation now and stop them."

"Why aren't the police doing anything?" she hisses as she paces a long line in front of the fireplace.

"Because we fucked up."

"Stop saying that!" she shouts. "I get it, okay? We fucked up. Loose ends and all that. We didn't think it through. Well I didn't anyway. It was all done on instinct. I was new then. I'm not now. I just wanted revenge for my dad. Now I want this stopped, all of it, so that it can't start again."

She's pissed. At herself. At me for not realising the mess we'd left behind and with whoever is now running the operation at the Res. Nothing I say will change any of that. The obvious thing to do is help her plan how to stop it once and for all.

"I'm not a strategist," I remind her quietly. "I think last time we just rolled with the punches and took our chances when they presented themselves. I don't think it's smart to do that again."

"I agree," she says a little more calmly as she climbs into my lap and curls up. "Jasper would know what to do, wouldn't he?" she asks.

"He would."

"I don't want them all here," she whines.

"Neither do I," I laugh, hugging her tightly. "They won't be searching for us this time. There's no reason to as we didn't run away and we're not hiding."

We're both quiet for a time. She's thinking hard, eyebrows scrunched up. "I don't want to roll with the punches this time either," she announces. "We need to be seen again. Here, at the Res and in town. Whoever has taken over the operation won't want us here again."

I agree with her and tell her so. "This time, once we've been seen we won't burn anything down or dump bodies in the forest. This time the players need to have accidents," I grin.

"Accidents?" she asks, confused by my suggestion.

"Hmm," I muse. "I _am_ sure that the way to draw out the new boss is to be seen. But with that comes a problem for us. The last time we were here people went missing, two men were found with their necks broken inside the Res itself. Two of my cars were wrecked.

"If people go missing or turn up dead this time we could be linked to it. We show up and shit starts happening again.

"Accidents are the answer," I grin.

She thinks on it a moment and then she grins too. "Public accidents. Plausible accidents. With neither of us anywhere near any of them."

"Exactly," I chuckle as she joins the dots.

"Totally explainable human accidents with nothing supernatural involved," she laughs.

"And accidents that only seem to befall those involved in the cooking and selling of drugs."


	2. Chapter 2

Our very first move is to be seen in town again. This time around that's easier to achieve, and a whole lot more fun for me.

We buy a new bed – Bella's one concession to never shopping - seeing as we'd broken through the posts on the old one the night before – and we stroll through the main street peaking in shop windows.

We go to the Police station and I thank the officer personally for finding my car.

The next day we do it all again only this time we chat with the locals a little. We check out the camping gear at Newtons Outfitters and I have the extreme pleasure of introducing Bella as my wife after explaining that I am my own grandson. Bella grins throughout.

The very nice couple in the post office talk with Bella for a while about what a wonderful man her father had been while I fill out forms to have our mail redirected. I don't bother submitting them.

After not hearing a mental thought for two days that sounded anything like we'd been 'made' we step things up and go to the Res. To the main entrance.

We park right in front of the gates. We only sit there for five seconds before the two guys in the hut call the new 'boss'. They recognise us both easily. They are the same two guys from before and they aren't so innocent this time I tell Bella as she reverses back up the road.

"Mission accomplished," she laughs as we speed away for home.

That night there are more trip wires between the trees that line the boundary near the cooking shed. I have no experience with anything like this, or what sort of reaction tripping the wire will illicit. Merely pulling them free and discarding them seems an unlikely solution.

"Let's actually trip one and see what happens?" I suggest, to which Bella simply nods.

I tug on the wire and instantly a siren sounds. We jump up into the trees and I time how long it takes for someone to come investigate. A full five minutes later two guys come trotting down the track to take a look. They are both armed.

They go right to the wire we'd tripped and then they each take a different direction for a look. They only walk a few hundred yards but don't find us of course. They don't think to look upwards.

"Must have been a deer," one tells the other before they trot back up the track again.

We wait silently until their footsteps are long gone and their thoughts tell me they are again tucked up in their beds before we jump back down to the ground. "Five minutes," she tells me.

"Almost exactly five minutes," I agree. "They went right to that exact wire too, not to any of the others. They've got some sort of system that tells them which wire was tripped."

"And they're armed," she hisses.

"Yep. They're a little more serious this time."

"So am I."

There's nobody in or around the house when we get back to it. I actually feel a little disappointed. I thought for sure that our visit to the front gate would start a chain reaction of _something._

Bella seems disappointed too and that makes me laugh. "What?" she scowls over the top of her book.

"You're itching for someone to come for us, aren't you?" I tease.

"Maybe," she giggles. "Have you given any thought to how we can arrange an accident or two?" she asks, using her fingers for the quotes around the word accident.

"A little," I grin. "Way back when you told me that when you got a little older you and your friends would go swimming together at the Res. Do you think they still do?"

"I'm pretty sure they would," she says as she gets to her feet and comes to me. "Every weekend they have cook outs right on the sand at First Beach and almost everyone goes. What are you thinking you evil beast?" she asks with a wicked grin and a wink.

I adjust the way I'm sitting so my erection doesn't poke her in the ass and wink right back. "I'm thinking we need to attend when they host the next cookout."

"It'll be tomorrow night," she tells me and then sets about distracting me from explaining any further by sliding her hand down between us. "I'm thinking we need to attend to this before the sun rises," she purrs against my lips.

Later we are careful to look for trip wires as we approach the boundary. There aren't any new ones, just the three we'd already spotted. We follow the line of trees as far as we can without breaking cover and actually going down to the water's edge. Sure enough there's a cookout happening and there are a hundred or so attendees.

There are only four I search the crowd for. The two from the front gate and the two who'd come armed when they responded to the trip wire alarm. So far we don't know of anyone else involved, so any of those four will be our targets tonight.

Bella whispers that she's spotted them too and we retreat back into the trees.

We follow the edge of the forest back up the coast for a mile or so and then we stop and listen hard. Nothing and nobody. Then we run towards the water.

We don't bother to shed any clothing or even our shoes. We just run into the waves and dive in. As planned we swim out behind the few breakers that there are at this time of year and once we're into calmer water we break the surface right next to one another.

I make sure she's got a clear picture of our targets in her mind as she won't be able to identify them by scent this time. I will be able to pick them out from their thoughts, if I'm lucky enough to isolate them from a larger group.

Once we are agreed on the plan we dive back under the surface and swim all the way to where the cook out is being held. With no need to breathe we can just lay in the warm water all night if we want to, or if nobody decides it's warm enough to swim.

I guess we wait there, way down at the bottom of the water where it's calmer and there's no need to swim against the current, for a good hour before the first humans enter the ocean.

Bella is alert immediately and I throw her a smile and a thumbs up as we move closer to where the humans are now thrashing and squealing as they play.

This plan isn't without its limitations I realise as there are two dozen legs all kicking wildly beneath the surface right near us. Even I can't identify a target from just legs. I can pick out which ones belong to women and which ones to men and my confidence deflates a little when I realise that there is only one fully grown man in the whole group.

Bella tugs on my arm to get my attention but of course she can't tell me what she needs or wants.

I'm about to motion for us to retreat and give it up as a bad joke when she darts forward and tugs on the heel of one of the frantically kicking legs. She does it again and then a third time.

The humans jump frantically in the water as word spreads among the group - and quite a few make a hasty exit - and just as I'm about to mentally curse her for sending them screaming to the shore, or having outed us, a dozen new bodies come crashing in in front of us.

A dozen male bodies. A dozen adult male bodies.

She's fucking brilliant!

Their thoughts tell me they've come into the deeper water to appease their frightened children. To show them that they'd imagined something, or someone, tugging on their feet. Each one dives to check that there's nothing here that can cause harm to their kids and then they resurface.

They can't see us because their eyesight is weak and we are too deep, almost lying on the bottom of the ocean floor.

I catch sight of one of our four targets and point out another to Bella who makes quick work of swimming towards him. At her nod I pull my target under the waves as she does the same to hers.

Mine thrashes like a madman as panic hits his system, flooding it with endorphins to make him fight for his life. Of course we both easily hold the fragile humans under the water, no amount of thrashing or panicked flailing is ever going to dislodge either one of us.

Their thoughts are terrified, of course. I ignore them and keep my concentration on the thoughts still on the sand and on those still swimming, or have returned to swimming. Nobody is missing this pair. Yet.

It feels like only seconds but is probably more like two minutes before the fight goes out of them. Mine gives up slightly before Bella's does. The outcome is the same for both of them, however. They've both drowned and are both quite dead.

At another nod from Bella I let my carcass go and watch it rise to the surface to lie there, face down, staring at me blankly as the current swishes him this way and that. Bella has done the same and then there are two blank faces.

I don't need to motion for her to get going. She's already swimming away, back in the direction we'd come from. I follow behind her. I can easily overtake her but I want to linger just a little to listen for any thought that might indicate anything other than a terrible, tragic accident has befallen the men.

We surface in exactly the same spot that we'd entered the water earlier and still there is no alarm being raised that two men are missing from the group.

We listen to make sure there is nobody about as we exit the water and as we hit the tree line and begin the run for home we both hear the first screams as the bodies are spotted floating.

"I got one from the gate," she tells me as we dodge and weave our way home, staying clear of the Reservations boundary this time.

"Mine was one of the ones who'd come to check on the trip wire," I tell her as I point out the track that will bring us to the house, but from a different direction than normal.

"Two down," she says smugly as we cross the road and into the driveway.

The next day the local newspaper reports the sad loss of two devoted tribe members who drowned during a routine evening swim at First Beach. No mention of how or why. No mention of anything untoward. No mention of anything suspicious. But, we had set the cat amongst the pigeons.

As predicted the house is scouted by another new player, with a new scent for us to memorise, the next evening. It is too much of a coincidence for the new boss that a day after we're seen at the gates of the Res two of his men are dead. Our new scout is thinking just that as he approaches. We're back in town and guys are dying again.

Like his previous counterpart he's careful moving up the driveway and hugs the trees on the right side.

He needn't have bothered, I'd heard this thoughts and Bella had heard his footfalls and smelled him long before he came into sight.

"Why are they so stupid?" she whispers between us as we watch this one approach the porch just like we'd watched the last.

"They think they're stealthy," I whisper back. "He's not going to come any closer," I tell her as I read him. "The last guy who did this went missing and this guy isn't interested in the same fate."

We watch as he retreats back down the driveway. "He'll go right back to the Res to report, right?" she asks once he's gone.

"Yep," I confirm. "Back to the new boss whose name I happen to know this time," I grin. I know her well enough to know this won't sting quite so much as it did when she'd learned it was Jacob who had killed her father and set this all in motion.

"No shit!" she squeals in delight. "He was thinking about his boss' name?"

"He sure was," I tell her as I sweep her into my arms. "His boss already knows that we're back of course. Billy will apparently be very pleased to know that we're once again living in this house and are sitting ducks, again."

"Billy Black," she hisses through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, love," I tell her truthfully. "I know he was your dads friend."

"Friendship means nothing to them," she growls, probably thinking that if Jacob could do what he did his father would be no different. The apple doesn't often fall far from the tree. "This time we know who we're hunting at least."

The following night we are back in the trees that border the Res. The same trip wires are there and we step over them carefully again. We sneak by the two still empty sheds at the farthest reaches of the boundary and go right by the cottages that hold sleeping humans.

We circle around the dirt road this time, unsure what traps lie in wait for us there as we approach the new cooking shed.

We crouch down low amongst the bushes and watch and listen. Two men are inside and we easily pick out the remaining man that had been part of the pair who'd responded to the trip wire alarm.

His friend is not known to us. We had a new scent.

We listen to them work for a good while and when trip wire guy announces he's out of anti freeze his companion advises him to go to the 'other shed' to get more.

Bella and I share a look between us as we watch the new guy walk casually down the dirt road and away from the shed. That left trip wire guy all alone.

"We said we weren't going to burn down the sheds this time," she whispers and I wonder if she's actually a mind reader herself.

"I know we did. But we know there's another one, so losing this one won't make too much difference," I shrug, hoping she agrees.

"We'll the leave the other one standing," she agrees with a firm nod.

"Volatile chemicals," I whisper between us, "A guy on his own. Totally plausible right?" I ask.

"Totally," she agrees with a wicked smile. She reaches into her jeans pocket and produces a lighter that she drops into my waiting palm.

"One day you'll tell me where these keep coming from," I whisper before slipping away towards the shed.

It's a simple plan with a simple outcome.

We leave the sanctuary of the bushes and go quietly towards the front of the shed. Bella crouches low and puts her foot against the door. He won't be leaving via that exit.

I take the quickest look that I dare through the rear window and see what I want immediately.

I creep around the shed until I'm at the furthest point from where trip wire guy stands inside, happily stirring his mixture, and crouch down below the window on that side. I take off my shirt, scrunch it up into a ball and flick the lighters flame alive. The shirt catches easily and I'm careful to keep it at arms length as it ignites fully.

Vampires and fire don't mix.

I drop the now engulfed shirt through the open window overhead and let it drop onto the bucket of foul smelling liquid beneath it. I have no idea what it is but it smells chemically, if that's even a word.

Whatever it is it bursts into flames. Trip wire guy panics instantly. He runs for the only door immediately but can't budge it of course. By the time he's gathered his thoughts enough to reach for the extinguisher at the rear of the shed the flames have spread and his only hope is cut off.

I race to the front of the shed and crouch down next to Bella. "He's trapped," I whisper as trip wire guy begins to scream in fear.

"Good," she hisses beside me.

We wait only long enough to smell his flesh as it begins to roast and then we make a hasty retreat back to the boundary line.

People come running from all directions pretty soon after and we watch them try in vain to douse another fire set by us. Their attempt is as futile this time as it was the last. The only difference being that this time when the smoke clears and the smouldering stops they'll find a body.

The newspaper the next day makes a small mention of a fire on the Reservation and that a man has been found dead inside a shed used to store fertiliser. A freak accident. Nobody is blamed because there is nobody to blame.

Just what he was doing in a shed in the middle of the night surrounded by volatile chemicals nobody had thought to report or question. No matter. Three down.

We smell an unfamiliar human scent as we approach the house after hunting the next morning.

"Long gone," we both say as we jog up the yard. I grin the whole way, we are so in tune.

We'd been left a message in our absence. A very strong message. Well, a very strong smelling message anyway.

On the back decking is the dead body of a female deer. A hunting knife stands straight up from the ribcage, a bloodied note had been pierced as the knife had been sunk into the flesh.

"Billy Black would like a meeting," I hiss as I retrieve the note.

"Not fucking likely," she hisses at my side. "Nice of him to home deliver," she laughs as she sniffs the carcass. "Not very fresh though."

"I'll run it into the forest in a minute," I tell her idly as I turn the note over and read some more. "I definitely only heard one mental voice in that shed last night," I tell her as I step over the carcass and go indoors with her.

"We watched the other guy walk away," she replies. "Our visitor earlier isn't that guy either," she adds, not understanding because I haven't explained yet. She goes to the never used kitchen sink and rinses the almost rancid deer blood from her hands.

"And we only got one each in the water," I muse as I join her and take a turn with the water next.

"Three down," she mumbles.

"The note says four," I shrug as I nod at it so she will read it where I've left it on the counter.

"Huh," she sighs. "Maybe there was someone in the shed with an undiagnosed brain tumour," she laughs.

"Maybe," I mumble, but I doubt it.

"It was a joke," she growls playfully as she swats at my ass with the never before used dishtowel.

"I got it," I say, but can't raise a smile. "The article in the paper this morning only mentioned one killed in the fire."

She goes to the living room and comes back with the paper folded in half, reading over the article again for herself. "It does," she says, the confusion I feel echoed in the features of her face.

"Then I've got no clue who else they think we killed," I grumble. "I'll run this out a few miles and dump it," I tell her as I go back out onto the decking and hoist the now cold body onto my shoulders.

"No other deaths reported in this rag," she says as she tosses the newspaper onto the dining room table. "I'll get on your laptop and see what's what."

When I get back from dumping our 'gift' she tells me that there aren't any other deaths listed anywhere in the area over the past twenty four hours, other than trip wire guy of course.

"Billy can't count," she shrugs.

I let it go at that. Billy can't count. "Should we send a message of our own back? Some nice, thick ivory cardstock maybe?" I chuckle.

"Hmm," she muses, grinning widely. "Your handwriting is exquisite. Yes. A trip to town for office supplies and then hand delivery is in order I think."

So that's what we do. She chooses a very nice piece of card and I buy a gold tipped fountain pen, something similar to the one my father once possessed.

We sit in the Jeep and compose our reply.

 _Dear Messers Black and blue sedan et al,_

 _So sorry to inform that we will be unable to attend your very polite request for a meeting as we will be hunting your drug makers and dealers that day._

 _Please do, however, express our thanks and pleasure to the hostess of your soiree for her kind invitation. We are crestfallen to be forced to miss out on the brownies, which we are sure are to be laced with some quality, homemade products._

 _Mr and Mrs Edward Cullen._

The card goes into a matching ivory envelope that I duly address with as many added flourishes as it will hold. It's quite lovely and Bella seems impressed with my penmanship.

We leave the car in town, run to the outskirts and duck into the forest without a human noticing anything out of the ordinary. We pop out of the tree line just ahead of the Reservations front gates.

One of the men in the hut is someone we are already hunting; his colleague is a new scent. "He's innocent," I tell her as I listen to both his thoughts and what's coming out of his mouth as he converses genially inside the hut.

Bella throws a nod my way and then casually walks out of the trees, heading for the gate.

Mr Not-So-Innocent doesn't have time to alert anyone to her presence as she flings the envelope over the gate so it slices through the air and hits the window behind which he stares at her. She smiles sweetly at them both – this I read in his mind, he is seriously pissed that she'd just walk up so brazenly – and then retreats. She slips back into the trees and is by my side a few seconds later.

We stay put, unseen from our chosen spot, and I listen as the humans decide what to do with our RSVP. It's a simple thing made difficult by their inability to chose between opening it and leaving it intact and delivering it to Billy Black himself.

The one we know is involved in the drugs operation finally makes the decision to walk it to the boss personally and we watch as he jogs down the road, further into the Reservation and away to the left.

I tug on her hand and we are away, back to town to the car then away for home.

Our message would either enrage or delight. Either way the game is now well into its second quarter.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm still thinking about Billy's note accusing us of harm to _four_ of his crew and not three when the opportunity to make the ledger balance presents itself.

Bella and I are racing home from Port Angeles after a lovely evening human watching . Where we are simple creatures with few needs they can be complicated and fickle, selfish and demanding. They also feel the need to acquire. The pursuit of goods and possessions occupy many of their minds as I read from them. Bella merely likes to watch them moving about.

She still enjoys making up back stories for them and her creativity for the simple pleasure is expanding.

"White station wagon," I tell her simply as we are running and she instantly pulls up and slips into a crouch. We are running parallel to the main road that leads to Forks so she knows to turn and follow me as I move closer to the edge of the trees if I'm interested in a vehicle.

"Who's in it?" she asks as we get right to the edge.

"The cook we saw walking away from the shed the other night. He's thinking about how lucky he was not to have been in it when it caught fire," I tell her as I take a good sniff around me, a plan forming. "Herd of deer to our right. Take down a largish one," I tell her as I prepare to step out onto the tarmac. "Kill it but don't drain it. Bring it back to this spot please."

I can tell she's confused but she knows me well enough by now to trust that I've got a plan and have seen an opportunity. I watch her run back into the trees and I crouch, ready to pounce as the car approaches.

I leap as he nears and hit the side of his car with as much force as I can muster. It won't hurt me and I've nothing to lose but the effort of trying if it doesn't work.

I go with the vehicle as it swerves violently and keep pushing; using my toes dug into the roadway itself until I've got it going in the right direction and at the right angle to achieve my goal.

The satisfying crunch as it hits the tree I've picked makes me grin, as do the dying thoughts of the man at the wheel.

Once the car has settled into what is going to be its final resting place I step back to make sure that the dent looks legitimate. It does. A great big body sized dent.

The windows have smashed on my side of the car so I simply look inside to make sure the injuries he's sporting are going to correspond to what I think such a car accident should look like.

He's got a terrible gash in his forehead and there is blood all over the wheel and the dash. "Looks like the dash of my wife's car when she was shot," I hiss as he stares blankly at me.

I trace the skid marks on the road with my eyes and try to imagine what the first responders will assume has happened. I would've liked them to have been longer, perhaps. But I am reasonably satisfied with the impression that the police will get.

Bella comes to the spot I'd leapt from and calls to let me know she's got the deer as I'd asked. I jog back to her and can see that she's picked a beauty. Quite big enough to help explain away the freak accident.

I sling it over my shoulder – it wouldn't do to have it covered in gravel rash – and I lay it by the cars side. I slit its belly open, a horrible thing to have to do, and smear some of its still warm blood on the side of the car by the dent I'd made.

"You're brilliant," she growls beside me as we stand and survey my work. "Evil is a very attractive trait in a man."

I would like to explore her thinking, and to explore the heady scent of her burgeoning arousal, but I cannot. "Vehicle approaching," I warn and we run back into the cover of the trees.

We hang around only long enough for me to discern that the driver of the now idling vehicle is indeed going to call 911 and then we continue our race for home.

 _Now_ it's four.

We decide to hunt further afield that night. The lure of cougars is a strong one and we run deep into the National Park in search of one to share.

We are flying through the trees at a good clip when I cross a familiar scent. Emmett.

I look to Bella who is just under a hundred yards to my right but she obviously doesn't cross it because she neither falters nor sniffs.

This isn't the scent my brother had laid here on his last visit. This is fresh. I range my hearing out but there isn't a thought for miles. At least two miles anyway.

"What is it?" she's asking.

I haven't registered that I've stopped running and that she's doubled back to me. "Emmett's been here," I tell her but she's already sniffing, screwing up her nose.

"It's recent," she hisses, scanning the area. "Do you hear him?"

"I don't," I shake my head, "but he's been here, the fucker."

"If they've followed us..." she hisses.

"I'd know," I growl.

"Not if they keep two miles away from us and we don't stumble upon their scents," she growls right back.

We both mutter 'motherfuckers' at the same time and it makes me smile. "I don't smell the others. It could be a coincidence. He could just have travelled through here recently and it's nothing to do with us," I muse. "He'd come through here to get to his home in Oregon but why he'd run I have no idea."

"We ran here, all the way from Canada," she reminds me.

I pull her to me and kiss her temple. "We did, but you aren't Rosie. If Rosie can travel in comfort she will, not matter how much her mate loves to run."

"I don't smell Rosie though," she points out.

"Me either. He's on his own. Probably just passed through here on his way to the house to the south," I say, trying to convince myself that it's the most likely scenario.

"He doesn't know we're here," she shrugs, "there's no reason to think he'd come this way for any other reason. You told Alice we were headed to the beach. This is a coincidence."

"True," I agree. "Right then, the cougars await," I chuckle and put out a hand for her to lead the way.

We find the scent of what turns out to be a beauty not long after. It takes a good hour to track it down and get it into a position for one of us to pounce. The hunt and chase had been almost as good as the kill. We share it, then each other. It is a great night all round.

The report on the news the next morning has Charlie Swan's replacement looking solemn and begging motorists to be ever vigilant and on the lookout for large deer when driving in and around the area. A tragic accident had occurred the night before and he implored everyone to please drive safely, to the speed limit and to be prepared at anytime to have to swerve to avoid animals on the road.

It was good advice Bella and I agreed as we lounged on the sofa watching.

"I've been thinking," she announces abruptly and I cannot control the stiffening in my pants as I wonder what she'll come out with.

I hoped it was sexual.

"Do tell," I almost beg.

"In big cities with drug problems," she begins and my hopes deflate along with my hard on, "you hear and read a lot of news reports about people overdosing."

I agree and tell her so. She has the most ingenious idea how to step up our mission and I find I am almost panting with anticipation to get going. I am also panting for something else.

"I'm bored," I groan as I get to my feet, dislodging her from my lap unceremoniously.

"You just said it was a great idea and we should get moving on it right away," she whines as she too gets to her feet.

"I'm bored," I stress.

It takes her a moment to understand and then a magnificent smile crosses her lips. "I will make this interesting," she says, licking her lips. I want to tell her that it's already interesting because she's palming me through my jeans, but she's grinning wickedly and that can only mean good things for me. "Whoever gets the most when we do this gets to end Billy."

"Fuck," I growl as she squeezes me hard. "You're on."

"We can't start right away," she grins and I'm about to protest when she pulls her t-shirt off over her head and I'm distracted by the plump, creaminess of her bare breasts. "Its broad daylight, Edward," she huffs, batting at my chin to get me to refocus on her face. "And we burned their latest batch to the ground only a couple of days ago. They'll need a little while to have enough for what we want to do."

Its good logic but I'm eager to get started. But, she's right. "Whatever will we do until nightfall?" I grin down at her.

"We'll fuck, of course," she states simply, as though it's obvious.

Maybe it is and I'm an idiot.

"On the piano first. Then in the tree outside your window. After that you can choose," she growls as she steps out of her jeans.

"Piano. Tree. Got it," I mumble, unable to concentrate while I'm watching her get up onto the lid of the piano, her naked body calling to me as much as her human blood ever did. I hover over her and cup a breast in each hand. "Hood of the Jeep. Then in the river. For a start," I tell her as I kick my own jeans aside.

"Oooh," she giggles as I lower my mouth to her and begin to suckle at her inner thigh. "The river sounds fun..." she trails off as I reach the promised land between her legs. She reaches down and curls her fingers into my hair, giving it a good tug. "Your tongue is fucking magic," she hisses as she arches her back. "Oh fuck!" she roars as I scrape my teeth over her clit, making her cum immediately.

You better fucking believe it I think to myself as I make my way up her body and plunge my tongue into her mouth.

Six hours later I look up at the sky and scowl. "It's not late enough for this yet," I whisper to her as we crouch behind the new cooking shed. I can hear humans in the cottages that are still up and about as well as a couple more in other sheds further down the dirt road.

"We've got all night," she whispers back as we watch two new men we've not seen before wander down the dirt road towards it.

"That's four in there," I whisper, though I know she can scent them individually for herself even though we can't see inside the shed.

"Four's a good number," she tells me as she tugs on my arm to get me to fall back with her into the trees a little. "Let's wait a bit longer, I don't want innocent people coming running if we make some noise," she says once we're far enough away to speak in our normal voices.

"Another half an hour and the ones in the cottages will be heading for bed. It's a school night and most of the children at this end of the land are already asleep, the parents won't be too far behind," I tell her as I listen to the thoughts nearest us.

So that's what we do. We fall back a little further into the forest at the boundary. Still close enough for me to hear the thoughts of the people in the cottages, and close enough for us to still be able to see further up the road in case any others join the cookery party.

Forty minutes later we are all set and there are now five cooks in the shed.

I have my heart set on a majority of kills. I really, really want to be the one to take care of Billy Black. But I also know that Bella will be itching to get a win too.

We are very competitive creatures.

She nods to show me she's ready when I tug her hand and then we're off.

She goes right, I go left. It's a very simple plan. Sneak in. Incapacitate. Eliminate.

The door is ajar so it's a simple matter of opening it quietly and then we're both in.

I have the first one down on the ground, having a little sleep from the belt over the head I've given him before Bella's first goes down.

I shout to warn her of the intention of another who has come up swinging, but I needn't have. She's got him at the temple and he's crumpling to the floor as my second is doing the same.

I race to the fifth. The majority. The win.

I'm quicker than his human reactions and I have him by the collar before he can scream. I hold him while he watches my wife hover over the two grown men at her feet. "If you make a sound I'll let her tear you limb from limb," I warn him as his thoughts turn to sounding an alarm by screaming his head off like a little girl. He shuts up. Smart choice.

"Fuck," she growls as she tugs one of hers to his feet and begins slapping his cheeks to bring him around. "You win."

"Yes. Yes I do," I hiss as I pull the now terrified idiot in my grip towards the packets of finished product on the bench. She does the same with hers once he's awake enough for us to finish the job.

It's not as simple as we both thought it was going to be. It's actually quite difficult to make a human swallow something they don't want to. I'm disappointed.

"Swallow you bastard," she hisses at hers. "He won't," she growls in my direction, but I'm having the same trouble.

Rubbing the throat as you would a dog to make it swallow a tablet simply does not work.

"Fuck it," I hiss as I grab my guy by the throat and hoist him towards an empty bit of wall. I prise his mouth open again – that part is easy – and shove another handful of the pills into his mouth. I hold that hand over his mouth so he cant spit them out. I tighten my grip around his throat with my other hand and just when he's about to expire I let him go. His instinct to draw in breath does the job for me. He can't help but swallow.

Bella is laughing as she watches and the guy in her grip promptly pisses his pants as he watches his colleague begin to writhe and moan on the ground.

"Your turn," she grins at the terrified man.

I don't bother waiting for her to mimic what I've done. She'd be fine. I just start slapping my second one around to rouse him. He's pretty quick about it as he's been laying waiting for his turn for quite a while as I dealt with his friend.

"Wakey wakey," I chuckle as I hoist him up into the same position I had the last one against the wall.

It's simple after that. We slap them around. Wake them up enough to start breathing hard in terror. Stuff their mouths, hold their throats until they can't breathe and then let go. They either swallow or choke. Either way the job gets done and they'll be found with drugs in their systems.

We're out of the shed before the last of the five hits the ground and starts foaming from the mouth.

We wait in the trees until the last heartbeat in the shed fades and then we run home.

Five in one night.

We are euphoric.

And I'd won.

She pouts only a little as I crow at my victory.

I'm magnanimous if nothing else and tell her I'll share when it comes time.

She's happy then.

"I heard something interesting back there," I tell her as we run.

"Do tell," she calls as she leaps a fallen tree.

"There are _two_ more sheds," I call as she gets a little ahead of me.

"Cooking sheds?" she asks as I come up beside her. "They're cooking in two more sheds, not just storing the ingredients in them?"

"Yeah," I say as we link hands for the jog up the yard. "They spread out after we cleaned out their stash last time. They figure if they have a few cooks going at once they can keep up supply if we knock one of them out. There are a lot more people involved in this this time."

"They've not counted on my husband's gift, though," she laughs as she hits the decking and turns to throw me a gorgeous smile.

"They have not, "I agree as we go inside. "We'll have to sort that out for them tomorrow night," I grin as I start collecting her clothing as she discards it piece by piece in front of me as we move through the ground floor.

"Definitely," she says as we go up the stairs. "I smell like human. Wanna come wash my back and suck the water off my tits?" she growls over her shoulder as we hit the first landing.

"Fucking hell woman," I growl right back as I tackle her and race up the next flight at top speed.

With our shower complete, and the both of us sated, we retire to the living room. We aren't there long when my burner phone rings. I check the screen but it's not a number I recognise so I let it go. I don't have voicemail set up on it, obviously, so whoever it is can't leave a message.

"Who's that?" Bella asks without looking up from her book.

"No idea," I mumble as I reopen mine. It rings again a moment later. Again I let it go. But when it rings a third time it has annoyed me so I answer gruffly. "What?"

' _Stop killing my people,'_ the unfamiliar voice says.

"Fuck off," I laugh and hang up. Of course it rings again instantly. "What?" I bark into it.

' _You killed my son you son of a bitch,'_ the voice growls, though I'd already worked out that the voice belonged to Billy Black.

"Your son had my wife shot," I hiss, not denying the charge in the least.

' _She lived,'_ he says, as though that makes it alright.

I hang up again. I'm not interested in his ranting and he is boring me.

"He's persistent isn't he?"Bella asks, eyebrows raised. She'd heard every word he'd uttered of course.

"He is," I mumble as I skim the page to get back to where I'd been. Of course the instant I find that spot the phone goes again. I crush it in my palm and put the pieces on the floor beside my chair.

"You should invest in a cell phone manufacturer," she laughs as she turns her page.

"I did, a decade ago, very lucrative business," I chuckle as I stretch out my foot and run my toes up her calf.

"Something he said..." she trails off, staring into the distance. I wait, knowing she'll share once she's hit on whatever it is that's stuck in her head. "He didn't say 'stop killing my men' or 'stop burning my sheds' or even 'stop destroying my product'."

"No, he definitely said 'stop killing my people'," I agree. "What about that strikes you?"

"We've only killed men. So why not warn us off from killing his men?" she asks but I know it's rhetorical. "He's the tribal leader. He's chief," she mumbles.

"So?" I ask. "Jacob would've been next in line. He didn't act very chief-like," I hiss.

"They're different," she says, waving her hand at me as though that is obvious. "But Billy," she says slowly, "Billy is still talking like a chief, not a boss. Stop killing my people," she murmurs. "His warning note said we'd killed four but at that stage we'd only gotten rid of three."

"So he can't count," I chuckle darkly.

She doesn't laugh. She doesn't do or say anything for the longest time. She just stares at nothing as she thinks.

She leaps to her feet growling loudly. "Emmett!" she roars.

"What about him?" I shout, leaping to my feet too.

"We only killed three," she hisses, but I'm still not getting her point. "Emmett was here recently. Billy was sure we'd killed four. Emmett killed the other one."

"He wouldn't," I scoff. "This doesn't have anything to do with Emmett. Why would he come here and why would he get involved?"

"When they came here. The night I first met them. You talked to Emmett about what was going on here," she says pointedly and I nod because that's exactly what I'd done. "He was pissed, right?" she asks.

"Of course he was," I growl. "You are my mate and he hadn't even met you yet before he thought of you as his sister. He's very protective."

"If he got wind of us being here because there was a problem again he'd come. Right?" she asks.

"Probably," I agree, "But he doesn't know we're here," I counter. "I told Alice we were heading for the beach."

"Call him," she grins. "Call him. See where he's at."

"Alright," I grin, thinking she is wrong. I race upstairs, grab another burner phone and dial his number as I race back to the living room. It rings and rings. No answer. I call again. He picks it up this time.

' _How's the beach?'_ he asks by way of greeting.

"Wet," I say, trying to sound normal. "Where are you at, brother?" I ask.

' _Right where you left me_ ,' he chuckles.

I know that's a lie. He's been on this land in the last few days. "I need a word with Alice and she's not picking up," I say as calmly as I can, knowing he wouldn't be able to put her on the phone if he was here and not in Canada.

' _Ah, yeah, right_...' he stammers and I know I've got him. ' _She's, ah, her and Jas have gone into town_.'

"Fair enough. Can I have a word with Carlisle instead?" I hedge. The silence on the end of the call is deafening. He can't think fast enough to give me any decent excuse. "Forget it," I hiss. "I don't know what you're playing at but we'll expect you within two hours. You get here and you explain." I hang up and crush yet another phone so he can't call back.

"Thought so," Bella grins.

I'm so pissed I can't say a thing. I just stare at her and marvel. She'd worked it out, and him out, after only a year and I'd known him for fifty!

I sit at the piano and begin to play to pass the time. It's not twenty minutes later that I stop abruptly, making Bella look up from her book at me, and wince. "They're singing Jingle Bells in their heads," I whine.

"They? Rosie too?" she groans as she gets to her feet and heads to the front door.

"Rosie too," I mutter as I go to join her.

They come out of the trees on the right side of the driveway a few minutes later. Both have big grins on their faces and both are still singing Christmas carols to keep their thoughts from me. They don't bother with greetings. Emmett pulls Bella off her feet and hugs her hard while Rosalie pulls me into her arms.

"Great to see you both," I growl as the four of us go inside.

"You too, bro," Emmett grins, dimples and all.

"Spill," Bella hisses the instant the door is shut behind her.

Emmett looks to Rose who looks at me and shrugs. "Alice was anxious. It was driving Jasper nuts. She caved. Spilled. We came," Rose says simply.

"Fuck," I groan as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "How many?" I ask as I catch snippets of their thoughts as they both try to continue the singing and fail.

"How many what?" Bella asks, shifting from foot to foot in what I hope isn't rage.

"Two each," Emmett grins menacingly.

"Two what?" Bella hisses, her patience at an end.

"Two drug dealers," Rosie tells her simply as she flops down into an armchair. "We couldn't go too near the Res because you'd either smell us or he'd hear us," she says, tossing her head in my direction. "We didn't know how else to help without outing that we were here, so we just waited and watched as they left the Res and picked the dealers off as they left to go sell their stuff."

"Let me guess?" I growl, "You got one a few days ago and three more recently?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Emmett asks, a confused look on his face.

"Billy _can_ count," I grin at Bella.

"Turns out he can," Bella grins back. "Are the others coming too?" she asks her brother.

"Nah would've looked odd if Alice and Jasper took off right after us," he shrugs. "They're coming tomorrow so it doesn't look too weird."

"Great," Bella whines. "Carlisle and Esme too I suppose?"

"God no," Rosie shudders. "They'd try and talk us out of it. They'll want to settle this with kind words and mutual respect for the humans on the Reservation. Fuck that. We don't want the parentals getting wind of this."

For the first time in an hour Bella smiles. Truly smiles. "Well then, since you're here, we can go in pairs tonight and knock out two sheds at once."

I'm not happy that our privacy and our time together has been invaded, but I am quite pleased that we'll have help. Especially if it meant we could end this faster and go on our merry way again.

"Tell us what's what and we'll do whatever you say," Em says, grinning from ear to ear and eager to get in on the 'fun' we'd been having without him.

Bella sets to telling them whats what. I nod when she's right and interrupt when she's forgotten something. And then it hits me.

"How did you know who was a dealer?" I ask them.

They share a minute 'look' between them and I know the answer before they say it out loud for Bella.

"Alice," Em shrugs. "She couldn't see either of you two, just the fallout from what you were up to. But us she could see," he grins. "She told us which were baddies and which were goodies as they came and went."

"It's not cops and robbers," I growl, but nobody is listening to me. They just continue to plan.


	4. Chapter 4

"Girls versus guys," Rose calls as the four of us run through the trees towards the Reservation the next night.

Bella says she's in and I roll my eyes.

"We'll take the shed to the south," I inform the girls who are already branching off from us on their run. Neither of them knows where the newest sheds are as I'd read the details from a mental thought. They shout to let us know they've heard and my brother and I stop where we are to watch our women streak away from us.

"Brilliant," he crows as he claps me on the back. "Let's do this," he hisses as he takes off for the boundary.

I roll my eyes again and wonder if I'd have dislodged a retina had I still be human with the number of times I did it when Emmett was around.

"Two," I whisper to him when we reach the trees behind the new shed. "Male and a female."

"One each," he whispers back.

He sniffs the air around us while I range my hearing out. I shake my head as he asks if I can hear anyone's thoughts and then we're off. We sneak up on the shed, crouch when we come to a window and then just waltz inside once we get to the door.

"I'll have turkey on rye," Emmett announces casually as we enter.

"What the..." is as far as the female gets. I've crushed her windpipe and cut off her airway before she can complete the sentence.

I look over and see my brother standing over the now deceased sack of human excrement at his feet. "They break so easy," he hisses. "Let's light this place up," he says, taking out a lighter.

It reminds me that I keep forgetting to ask Bella where she kept getting them from.

"No," I tell him. "We need to leave one standing so the police will have something to use as evidence if we can't end this completely."

He nods that he's understood but in his thoughts he's not happy about leaving it standing for another cook to take over.

We run back to where our women should be waiting. Only they aren't there.

We can't shout for them because it would rouse the humans that are sleeping nearby and I can't read Rosie's thoughts, so they are at least two miles from where they should be.

Emmett doesn't seem panicked but I am. A little. It's a leftover human trait for me to be worried about my wife.

"Got em'," he announces as we hear the feint groan then we take off at a good clip.

I hear Rosie's thoughts long before we get near enough to see the two panicking women.

"It's alright," I tell my shaking wife as I take her in my arms and turn her back on the mess on the forest floor.

"It was an accident," she hisses into my shoulder as her reaction to the blood makes her shake and shiver a little.

"It really was," Rosie tells Emmett who also takes his wife in his arms and turns her back. "I swear we didn't do this on purpose. We didn't spill a drop of blood in the shed."

"He ran," I tell Emmett as he turns anxious eyes to me. I've already plucked the scenario from Rosie's thoughts. "There were three in their shed. They took care of one each but this one ran. By the time they'd lit the shed on fire this one had run a fair way and they gave chase.

"In his panic to flee he forgot that there are wires out here."

"Take Bella home, we'll clean this up," Emmett tells his wife.

I read the anguished thoughts in Rosie's mind as she audibly agrees with her husband. I kiss Bella on the hair and let her go to my sister. Rose mouths 'I'm sorry' right before they run off.

When the girls are out of sight and earshot Emmett picks up the severed head off the ground and looks into its face. He snarls and then lets it fall back to the ground. "They had razor wires out here at head height?" he growls.

"We've come across a few," I agree as I stare down at the corpse.

"That could've been one of our girls," he says with a shudder.

I can't think about that. I won't.

"What do we do with him?" my brother asks.

"Leave him right here," I growl. "They strung these wires up themselves. Nothing to do with us. One of their own was killed by it. Fair play," I hiss as I take out my latest burner phone and dial. "Your razor wire traps killed one of your own. Half a mile north from the eastern boundary," I bark as the call connects. Then I simply hang up.

"Who did you call?" Emmett asks as we begin to carefully jog towards home, eyes peeled for more wires.

"Billy Black," I hiss.

By the time we get back to the house the girls have cleaned up and are sitting quietly in the living room. Emmett and I both drop a kiss each on their hair as we go by and then we both go to shower.

My sister is still castigating herself in her thoughts and it's to her I go when I go back downstairs. "I need a private word with my sister," I tell my wife who looks up at me with questioning eyes. "We'll only go over the road a little way and come right back."

Bella nods but says nothing. Emmett flops down into the space next to her on the sofa and tells me in his head that he'll take care of her while we're gone.

Rosie follows me down the driveway, across the road and into the trees opposite. She puts her hand into mine and we run side by side until I squeeze her hand to get her to stop. We are far enough away not to be overheard.

"I'm so sorry," she sighs, and if she'd still been able to cry I knew she would've.

"It's okay," I tell her as I take her into my arms.

"I didn't think," she moans against my chest. "She's fast, so fast. And she took off and I let her go ahead and it could've been her out there..." she trails off, finishing the thought in her head, not out loud. _'It could've been Bella out there with her head off.'_

"We'll be more careful," I tell her sternly as I force her chin up so she can look me in the eye. "We'll all be more careful."

"She didn't balk at the blood," she whispers with a small smile.

"Didn't she?" I grin back, so amazed and proud of my wife.

"She wanted it. I know she did. But she didn't balk. I did," Rosie admits.

"We're all different. I know you know that. She's strong in ways we aren't and she's weaker in ways we're strong. We're a team," I tell my sister firmly.

I give her a minute to think on that and then stroll back to the house with her.

Emmett fist bumps me as he vacates the sofa and joins his wife on the stairs. They'd retire and speak about tonight in private. Well, in as much privacy as they could with us in the house anyway.

I slip into his space and take my wife into my arms. "I'm very proud of you," I tell her, knowing she'll understand that I was proud of her for controlling the bloodlust she would've felt out there.

"It was hard," is her only comment so I leave it at that.

"We took care of the ones in the other shed," I tell her.

She nods but is quiet for a little while after that. She lies down across my lap and I run my fingers through her hair as she closes her eyes. She'll never sleep again but she looks so peaceful as she rests.

"We can do better than that," she whispers as the soft sounds of my brother and sister making love come to us.

"They're trying to be quiet," I chuckle softly.

"I hate quiet," she says with a wink as she gets to her feet and holds her hand out for me. "Let's take the jeep and go do it on the high school bleachers."

"Christ woman," I groan as I follow her out the front door.

"You say that a lot," she laughs as she twirls the keys round her fingers.

The next afternoon Alice and Jasper join us at the house.

Alice' thoughts are filled with the things she cannot see and the girls take her off to explain what's happened since she last lost sight of Emmett and Rose.

My brothers hunt with me and I fill them both in on all that Bella and I had accomplished alone, and give Jasper the details of last night.

Jasper is thrilled at the prospect of planning an assault on the Res, his vampire army training returning to him in a rush. Emmett is concerned about how to achieve what we want without harming anyone who is innocent on the Res.

I'm about to ask them to help me plan a way to get at Billy Black when the thoughts of a human begin to prickle at me.

"There's a scout out here," I whisper to my brothers who instantly drop in to crouches at my side. "He's travelling this way but he'll be a while on foot."

"No blood," Emmett reminds Jasper and I have to grin at that. "They need this to look like an accident."

"Easy," Jasper hisses lowly and as the plan forms in his head I grin.

"Nice," I tell him as I hold out my fist for him to bump. "If he spots me he'll run," I tell Emmett. "He doesn't know either of you two. I'll wait by that tree and once you two have decided who'll do it the other comes with me."

I take off, leaving my brothers to rock paper scissors for it, even though Emmett has no idea what the rest of the plan is yet. He's eager for whatever we've got in mind.

He wins and Jasper explains what Emmett should do and what we're going to do once his part in this is done and then Jas comes to stand with me. "Lucky fucker," he grumbles.

We're all silent as the human stumbles his way through the thick trees. In his head he's pissed because he's been sent on this fools mission.

Billy has decided that there can be no way we hit two sheds in the one night without help and this guy has been sent to find out who is helping us. He won't live long enough to find out the answer to that.

Emmett doesn't bother to hide himself. He just stands stock still and as the human approaches he licks his lips and slips a little lower into his crouch.

I read his resolve from his brain only half a second before he actually pounces.

The guy has no clue what's happening to him in the split second he's got to think about it before Emmett bear hugs him and crushes his ribs through his lungs.

He's gasping for his last breath when Jasper and I begin to push on the tree we're behind.

It snaps like a twig under a boot and as Emmett lets the body go and steps aside the tree crashes on top of the body.

"Accident," Emmett grins at us as we go to survey the results.

"Accident," Jasper agrees with a high five to his brother.

"Accident," I chuckle in agreement as I fist bump my brothers in turn.

It's Jasper who calls Billy to tell him his scout has had an unfortunate accident in the forest.

We're all at home long before anyone will find him.

"He'll retaliate," Bella growls as we explain about the scout to the girls. "He won't stand for us knocking off his guys three, four and five at a time. Apart from his note he hasn't sent anyone after us, but he'll have to."

"He can't hurt us," I remind her.

"Maybe not physically," she says. "What if he levels this house?"

"Esme would kill us," Alice correctly tells us all.

"Then we've got to stop all this fast," Emmett adds.

"How do we get to Billy himself though?" I ask. It is a part of this that I'd given a lot of thought to and had never come up with an answer.

"You said he wanted a meeting," Jasper points to me and I nod to let him know he's right. "So let's go meet him."

"He won't be alone," Emmett whines.

"He won't leave the Res," Rosie says at the same time as Bella says it.

"There are six of us," Jasper points out, stating the obvious and as his plan forms in his military mind I start to smile. "He'll bring some muscle; we'll come as your muscle. Doesn't matter if he won't leave the Res. We'll go to him. No problem. They can't hurt us."

"There are innocents all over that land," Emmett growls.

"I know that," Jasper huffs. "Billy doesn't want them hurt anymore than we want to hurt them. He'll want to protect the innocent too, but he won't hesitate to send the ones who aren't innocent into battle with us, will he?"

"I guess not," Emmett concedes.

"Bella, go hunt will you," Alice says out of the blue. "I need to see how this plays out and I can't do that with you here."

Bella doesn't look offended. She just comes to me, kisses my cheek and runs out through the glass doors and down the yard. She knows by now how Alice works.

I watch her as she runs and then turn to watch the visions come into my sisters mind.

"You can't do to Billy what you did to Jake," Alice says pointedly to me, though she's aware I've just seen it for myself. She speaks out loud for the benefit of the others. "You can kill him outright where he stands but you won't be able to drag him out of there and take him somewhere else this time."

"We don't want to," I tell her firmly. Bella and I had talked about what to do to Billy Black. We had that part planned. Alice winces as my wifes plan flashes through her head. I ignore that. She'd had a hard time with what we did to Jacob too, at first. She'll get over this as well. "Get us to Billy and we'll sort that out if you lot can take care of his muscle."

"No problem," Jasper smiles.

"There's one more part of this to play out before we can go for Billy," Alice says when I think it's all settled. I watch the vision and smile. "She'll enjoy that," she tells me with a wink while the others wait impatiently for details. "I'll leave some things at the edge," she tells me and I nod in understanding.

"You tell them, I'll go hunt with Bella," I shout as I run to the glass doors. "We'll get that done and meet you all at nightfall by the boundary line."

They all shout their agreement and I fly through the yard to towards the river.

"They're in there?" Bella whispers beside me, throwing a nod towards the little house.

"They are. Two men. Listen," I suggest.

' _They nearly fucking killed me!'_ one shouts to the other.

' _How the fuck do they know who we even are?'_ the other shouts.

"Emmett and Rose nearly caught the first one," I fill in for Bella. "They tried to knock him off but it was broad daylight and there were humans everywhere."

' _Who the hell are these people?'_ one moans. _'And what the fuck is Billy doing about it?'_

' _Nothing!'_ the second one yells. _'Even Jacob went after them. Billy's fucking useless and he's gonna get us all killed.'_

"You've got that right, boys," Bella hisses beside me.

' _I say we get out now.'_ The first guy offers but number two isn't having it.

' _You weak bastard. You can't run away! You're a member of this tribe and what the Chief says goes.'_

' _I'm not taking a bullet for Billy fucking Black. You do whatever you want but I'm out. Did you see Embry? Did you see what was left of Quil? Fuck that!'_ The dissenter screamed.

"How many humans around?" Bella asks me.

"Two in the house next to that one. They are trying their best to ignore the argument. Neither of them wants anything to do with it. They'll stay put.

"Another two in the house opposite. An adult female and a male child. The woman is going to put her kid in its pusher and they're going to her sisters further up the road so they aren't involved in what's going on in there.

"She's coming out in three, two, one..." I tell her as we watch the front door of the little house.

The woman pushes the kid hastily by the house with the two arguing men in it and then almost runs once she's past.

We watch until she's inside her sister's house and then Bella and I make for the side of the house closest to us. We crouch low, I range out my hearing to make sure nobody is watching out a window and when I'm sure they aren't thinking about us I squeeze her hand and we're off again.

The back door is open when we get to it so we just walk inside.

The argument is getting heated. One guy wants out. The other thinks he's a yellow bellied traitor.

"You're both pieces of shit," Bella announces, rather indelicately I think, as we find them in the kitchen.

"Who the fuck are you?" the first one manages to get out before he works it out for himself.

"That's them!"The second one shrieks as he pulls his weapon from the waistband of his filthy jeans.

There hadn't been a need to warn Bella they are armed, they can't hurt us, but – and this could only happen to my wife – guy number two isn't interested in what we've got to say and he fires immediately that he's aimed at her head.

The pistol has a silencer but the shot is still quite loud inside the small room. Guy number one is panicking; he's never killed anyone directly. His drugs have, but he's never pulled his trigger before. But he does get his pistol out too.

"What the fuck?" Bella shouts as she puts her fingers to her temple. Again. "Again? Shot again? What the fuck?" she roars, making me smile.

"How?" guy number two asks as he stares at the end of his gun wondering if it has misfired.

I read the thought a split second before guy number one pulls his trigger. Now my wife is more than pissed as she raises her hand to her chest where the second bullet should have felled her. "Motherfucker," she hisses. "They shot me!" she shouts at me.

"I saw," I grin.

"Head or chest?" she asks me and it takes me a second to work out what she's asking me.

"Oh, definitely head," I growl before smiling at her widely.

Our exchange has taken but three human heartbeats so our 'friends' are still standing idly, goggling at what should have been one dead woman and one man waiting for his turn to be dead. Instead they have been disarmed and I am in possession of the gun that belongs to number two, the one who'd shot her in the head.

Bella has number ones pistol and has already shot him in the chest, right where he'd shot her, before I even have a bullet in the chamber of mine.

I tilt my head to the side, smile and pull the trigger. The trickle of blood in his forehead begins immediately as does my wife's interest in its scent.

"Out!" I yell at her before his body hits the floor. She's standing stock still, in a slight crouch, sniffing madly at the blood filled air around us. "Out!"I shout again and this gets her attention.

She goes and I follow. Back out the rear door, along the side of the house. Across to the next house and then back into the trees before the first human comes to investigate the popping noises.

"Wires!" I call to her to remind her to be careful. She waves a hand over her head to let me know she's heard but she's on her way towards home at a fast clip all the same.

Away from the blood. Away from the gore.

"I'm okay," she tells me as we stop near the rivers edge.

I don't bother asking if she's sure. If she said it she's sure.

"Alice?" she asks, looking down at the neat pile of clothing that sits on the bank.

"Alice," I confirm.

I take her hand and lead her right to the edge of the lapping water. I pull my shirt off over my head and step out of my jeans. She watches me, her bottom lip between her teeth and then she shucks her own clothing.

Bathing will help get rid of the minute splashes of blood that cover us. I wade in but she dives under the water quickly. There's no soap but we scrub all the same. She rinses her hair over and over and over.

I tell her when I can't scent it on her any longer and she smiles at me. It's not her usual full smile, but it's a smile all the same.

We find a spot where the last of the suns rays peek through the heavy trees and lie down to let it dry us.

I watch as her skin throws light all around. She turns her wrist this way and that, watching it for herself. She's still enthralled by the phenomenon, though I've only been enthralled by it since being able to watch my wife's skin do it. When it had just been my own it had bored me. I'd resented it.

But now...

She reaches for my hand and holds it in hers between us. "I need this finished now."

"I know," I tell her quietly. "We'll do this last part and then we'll plan where to go next."

"Are we going somewhere next then?" she asks and I can tell she's grinning without looking.

"I have no preconceived ideas," I say truthfully, "but am open to suggestion."

"You always are," say laughs. "I'll follow wherever you'd like to lead," she tells me.

"Then we'll get this over with and then you have a look at a map and decide which province you'd like me to buy for you."

She's on me, sitting astride my hips, in the blink of a human eye. "I don't want a province," she laughs as she bats at my chest. "But somewhere different than here or Canada does sound nice."

I take her hips in my hands and dig my fingers into her flesh. She leans over and kisses me firmly before sitting back up, a little closer to where I want her this time. "There's this place..." I begin but I lose the thought completely as she slides back and takes me inside her.

"A place sounds good," she moans as she begins to rock back and forth.

"I like places," I growl nonsensically as I take her breasts into my hands.

"Mmm, I like," she agrees as she picks up the pace.

We've washed up in the river again by the time the sun sets. We dress in the clothing Alice has left for us and then we begin to jog for the boundary where the others will meet us. I explain what Alice saw and what role Bella is to play in it as we go.

I hear his thoughts before Bella smells him but she is instantly alert beside me because I've pulled up. We stand completely still while I listen to what he's thinking.

"A man is approaching. I can't tell you his name but he's half a mile away," I tell her, not bothering to be quiet about it, we are far enough away not to be overheard. "He's the next in line for Chief. He's innocent," I tell her pointedly.

"What does he want? Why is he out here?" she asks.

I smile then. "He wants rid of Billy Black and rid of the shame of drugs at La Push."

We intercept him a hundred yards ahead. He comes to us palms up in supplication. "I don't want any trouble," he both says and thinks as he approaches.

"We have no problem with you," I tell him though he instantly wonders how I know that he's got nothing to do with what's going on in the sheds at the back of the Res. "We know you aren't involved," I tell him as he slows to a stop.

"I'm Sam. Sam Uley," he says, his hands still in the air.

"You can put your hands down, we aren't armed," Bella tells him. "I'm Bella and this is my husband Edward."

"I know you Bella," Sam smiles a little as he lowers his hands. "I remember you coming with your dad. Good to meet you Edward," he says last.

"And you, Sam," I say honestly.

He scrubs at his chin in obvious distress. I read from his thoughts what he wants from us and put up a hand to stop him before he starts. "Wait," I tell him as I take out yet another burner phone and dial Jasper. When the call connects I put it on speaker. "Jasper I have Sam Uley with me. He's the next in line for Chief and wants this over with."

"How do you...?" Sam begins but I put my hand up for him to stop again and he does.

"Sam, my family are on their way to meeting us at the boundary to finish this once and for all. Please tell us what you want," I say clearly so everyone listening on the other end will hear it clearly too.

"Um," he stammers, "I just wanted to talk. To see if this could be ended in some way that spares the right people. That's all."

He's clearly terrified. He doesn't know us but he knows what we are capable of. "Sam," I say gently, handing the phone to Bella so she can hold it so the speaker will still pick up our conversation. "You have nothing to be frightened of with us. I swear it. We'd never hurt anyone innocent," I say pointedly and see, then hear, then read him relax a little.

"Billy Black," he begins and both Bella and I nod our encouragement. "He took over when Jake disappeared. He was Chief all along but Jake ran the business and... Anyway, he's taken over the making and dealing of the drugs. I can't stand it. I want it to stop. But while Billy is..." he trails off, running his hand through his hair in despair.

"But while Billy is alive there's nothing you can do," Bella finishes for him.

"I don't want him dead!" Sam shouts. His thoughts match his words and I'm impressed.

I don't agree with him, but I'm impressed.

"I don't," he argues though neither of us, nor anyone listening via the call has said a word. "I don't want him dead. His daughters live here and with Jake gone... Look, I just want all this to stop. We were doing okay. The Reservation wasn't wealthy, but we had enough to get by."

"Ask him where inside the Res we can find Billy," Jasper says through the phone.

"I can show you," Sam tells us. "But I don't want any part in any violence. I need you to swear you'll let me get his girls, and their kids, away before you go in there."

"I swear it," Bella says instantly.

"Take the phone Ed," Jasper says and I switch it from speaker and put it to my ear.

"I'm here," I tell my brother.

"Get him to call ahead. If there's any way that he can get the ones involved in all this in one place tell him to do it. Tell him to take everyone else, everyone who isn't involved, to the water's edge. They'll be far enough way to see and hear nothing until this is done."

I relay the message to Sam who thinks on it while he paces back and forth. When the plan forms in his brain I tell Jasper that we're set and then I disconnect the call.

"How do you..." Sam asks, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I can read your thoughts," I tell him simply. He doesn't believe me and I smile. "Age old trick. Pick a number between one and a thousand," I laugh as I take Bella's hand and nod towards the path. "Eight hundred and eleven," I say as the three of us begin the walk.

"Jesus," he scoffs, though still not convinced.

"Seven," I chuckle when he's thought of another. "Six hundred and seventy two."

"Fuck," he mutters.

"Ninety one," I laugh.

We walk along at what feels like a snail's pace with me calling out the numbers as he thinks them.

He wants to know what we are but doesn't know how to ask. I don't offer the answer. His mind is racing with all sorts of theories. He switches between devils and angels. There's even a thought of wizard and witch that makes me laugh. His next thought doesn't.

"If you don't stop thinking about my wife's beauty we're going to have a problem," I growl as she skips ahead a little.

He has the good grace, and the intelligence, to apologise both mentally and out loud.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam uses my burner phone to call the Res. I don't know who he calls as he doesn't say a name, just thinks of the number. He just tells the male on the other end that an emergency meeting has been called and everyone currently working for the boss on his 'special project' needs to be in the rec hall in an hour.

He makes a second call and this one is answered by a woman who says she is in reception at the school. He tells her there needs to be a practice of the emergency plan immediately. He tells her to make the announcement as soon as he hangs up.

"I'm the principal," he shrugs as he dials again.

He makes call after call to the innocent people he knows will spread the word quickly and as we approach the boundary, and my waiting family, we can already see groups of people making their way towards First Beach.

"Well done," I tell him as he hands me back my phone.

"I can't guarantee that everyone involved will be in the rec hall anymore than I can guarantee that anyone not involved will be at the beach," he says solemnly.

"We can work out who belongs to which group," I reassure him. He's sceptical but nods, taking me at my word.

I make introductions once our groups join up. Jasper also assures him that we'll be careful and that we've got a way to distinguish between the players.

"When this is done I'll come find you," I tell Sam who is nervously searching the groups for his wife and children.

"You will?" he asks, eyes wide with fear.

"We won't hurt you," I tell him with a smile. "We'll clean up our mess and then we'll find you so we can work with you to make all this go away."

He holds out his hand for me and after I've given it a good shake he does the same to Jasper and then to Emmett. He nods respectfully to the women in turn and then he runs over the boundary line and joins up with one of the last groups making their way towards the water.

We wait, watch and listen.

A little later I check my watch as I listen to the stragglers thoughts passing us by. "Ten minutes," I tell the others.

Bella tugs on my hand. "Are you sure we can't kill him?" she asks. She looks so disappointed that I'm sorry to have to nod. "Fuck," she growls.

"I'm all set for this," I grin before kissing her pouting lips. She knows the plan but I can't help but smile at her wanting to deviate from it. "But we can change our minds," I hedge.

"No, we swore to Sam that we wouldn't," she pouts.

"You'll have to let me have my win after all," I shrug, hoping she won't be pissed.

She stares at me for a long moment, still weighing the new plan in her head. "Fine," she huffs.

Then we split into pairs as planned.

"I don't need to tell you to be careful because you can't be hurt, but I want to," Bella grins up at me as I take her chin into my hand.

I kiss her lips softly and cup her cheek. "Same," I say simply before kissing her again. "Take your cues from Jasper; he'll be able to tell if anyone in the building is innocent."

"I will," she promises.

"I'm sorry," I tell her.

"I know. But I want this to end more than I want to be the one to end it," she pouts again, playfully this time.

"You'll enjoy this outcome too," I promise. "And we'll get years and years to watch it play out this way."

"You'll be quick?" she asks and I nod.

"Time," Jasper says as each pair parts. "Spill no blood," he warns his group as they start for the road that will lead them to the rec hall. "Crush them. Smother. Strangle. Snap some necks. Whatever you like. But no blood," he insists as they begin to run.

I watch them go and when I'm sure they are within sight of the rec hall I run up the boundary line, sticking to the trees a little longer.

The house I want backs onto the line and I can hear his thoughts as I enter it from the back porch.

He's in a small room to my right and he's counting money. A lot of money. A whole lot of dirty, dirty money. He's putting half into a bag at his feet for himself and the other half into another bag, that is for the tribe. He's making and selling drugs and ripping off his own tribe at the same time!

My rage and my need to toy with my prey is strong inside me then.

He doesn't even register that I'm there before I've reefed him from his seat, my hands wrapped around his throat.

His thoughts race. His panic is palpable. His greed is all consuming.

I squeeze a little harder.

He squeaks a little more.

I crush his throat but leave him breathing. I remember my promise to Sam and let him go.

He collapses to the floor. Grateful that I've spared him. He's so, so very wrong.

I pull at the front of his shirt until he's sitting up, his eyes goggling out of their sockets at me.

"I swore to your next tribal leader that I wouldn't kill you," I hiss into his terrified face. "But I really want to. It would be terribly satisfying," I growl.

"Please don't," he begs though the words are rasped through his already damaged throat.

"I won't," I smile.

It is a simple thing to bring one hand around his throat and use my thumb to crush just a little. The satisfying crunch is music to my ears.

He'll never speak again but when I'm finished with him it won't just be his voice box that won't work correctly.

I pull him up until he's on his feet and then I wrap my arms around him.

He thinks I've spared him. Again. He thinks I'm going to take him from his home and get him medical assistance.

He's thanking me for letting him live as I crush his spine.

There is a final, gurgling pop and then I listen. Listen hard.

His heart is still beating, though it's truly racing now. His lungs are still functioning and his throat is open enough to receive the oxygen.

He's cursing me as he realises what I've done and as he falls back to the floor the terror of having to live his life without the use of his body begins to creep into his mind.

He tries to speak. He tries to shout for me not to leave him like that. He attempts to put a hand to his throat to massage it, desperate for his brain to reconnect whatever is necessary for his thoughts to become words once again.

But his brain no longer recognises his hands. Or his legs. Or his torso. Or his voice box.

Or his cock.

He's trapped.

The realisation that I'm going to leave him to live this way comes to his thoughts quickly. He's screaming internally and his face is contorted into a grotesque mask of anguish.

He begins to beg his god to take him.

"You're staying right here," I hiss as I lean over his ruined body. "You'll stay right here and suffer the indignity I've given you."

He'll live out his days like this.

But he'll live.

I leave him where he falls, ignoring his mental pleading. If we were planning to stay in the area I'd kill him outright, regardless of my promise to Sam. I couldn't spend my days listening to his thoughts.

As I reach for the two bags of cash he'd been stuffing his thoughts switch to the rest that he had hidden. I throw him a quick thank you and head out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom.

I take careful steps until I locate the lose floorboard by sound. His thoughts curse me again as he hears the squeak of the timber as I lift it and toss it aside.

Sure enough there are a dozen bags of cash in the small space.

I empty them and condense all of it into a single bag. I put the empties back into the hidey hole and slide the board back into place.

I shout out a hasty thank you and then I'm out the door and running.

I'm at the rec hall within seconds, ready to assist should there be anyone left standing.

There isn't.

A dozen bodies lie on the floor of the large open building.

Bella is at my side, her hand in mine, as I come inside properly.

"It's done," Jasper tells me with a nod.

I give my wife a quick kiss and then she runs off with my sisters to retrieve the jeep from where it had been stashed, half a mile from the Reservations front gate.

"All good?" Emmett asks me as he raises his hand for a fist bump.

"All good," I tell him, returning the gesture.

I drop the bag at my feet and ignore both my brothers and their curiosity over what it might contain.

Each of us slings a body over each shoulder and we take the first six to the hut at the front gate. We prop them against it and run back for the rest.

By the time the jeep comes into view we are ready to load it up.

Emmett and Rose will take it and the bodies to the farthest reaches of the Reservations land and set the whole sorry lot, car and all, ablaze.

I am saying goodbye to car number three.

Jasper and Alice will head home and gather their things in readiness to leave and close up the house. Bella and I will sort out Sam.

We wave the two couples off with good wishes that their individual chores will be achieved without fuss.

I dial Sam and tell him we'll meet him where the sand meets the trees at First Beach.

I duck into the rec hall and retrieve the bag and although Bella raises an eyebrow at it she doesn't ask of its contents and I don't offer an explanation.

We meet Sam at the tree line a few minutes later.

"Everyone who should be safe is safe?" I ask as he approaches warily.

"They are," he says very quietly.

"You and your people can go about your business now," I tell him and watch his shoulders relax as he gives us both a small smile. "You'll find this is more than enough to continue some of the good works and programs you've got going here," I tell him as I hand over the bag. "It's dirty money but the tribe deserves to use it all the same.

"I don't want you to ask any questions about this, and I won't answer any if you do, but Billy is in his home with non life threatening injuries. He won't recover but he is alive. I don't want you to worry about his care. I will take care of that personally. So you use that money to find some new industry to keep this place thriving."

His thoughts are filled with ideas how to achieve that, with the odd thought to the state of Billy Black. He stares at me for a long moment then stares at the bag now dangling from his hand, then back to me.

He holds out his hand and I shake it eagerly. He nods to Bella who returns it with a smile.

"Thank you," he tells us and I know from his thoughts that it's sincere.

He has hundreds of questions but he won't ask them. I let him think for a moment and then I take Bella's hand into mine.

"There will be smoke from the southern boundary shortly. Ignore it," I tell him as we turn to take our leave. "It was great to meet you Sam. You'll make a fine Chief. Call if you ever need anything."

"How much was in the bag?" Bella asks once we're far enough away not to be overheard.

"Judging from its weight, and I'm only guessing at that to the nearest pound, around half a million," I tell her as we begin to really run.

"How the fuck do you know what half a million dollars weighs to the nearest pound?" she laughs as we hit our stride.

"I'm ancient," I cackle. "I've had a fucking long time to learn a lot of useless things."

"Don't suppose you know anything about boats?" she asks out of the blue.

"As it happens I do," I smirk. "Would you like me to buy you one of those massive yacht thingy's?"

"No!" she laughs, turning backwards so I can see her beautiful face. "You asked me a few days ago what I'd like to do once this was done. I think I'd like to go to the beach," she grins before turning back around and resuming her run beside me.

"Well, we did say we were going to the beach," I chuckle. "What does boating have to do with that?" I ask as we come to the back of our land.

"I want to go somewhere where there isn't a human for miles. I want to lay on the warm sand and fuck you in the waves. Maybe the only way to achieve that is if we stay on a boat? Go to shore at night?"

I stiffen immediately. "There is a place..." I tell her as we slow to a stop at the back of the yard.

"I do like places," she giggles. "No humans?" she asks.

"Not for a hundred miles in any direction. Totally secluded. We'll need a boat to get there. An island," I tell her as we make our way onto the decking.

"Waves?" she says with a cheeky grin as we go through the glass doors.

"A few small ones," I tell her as I pull her to me before ravaging her pouting mouth. "There's a waterfall with a small grotto behind it where I'd quite like to fuck you, though. If that will suffice?"

"Ewww," Alice grimaces as she trots down the stairs with a suitcase trailing behind.

"We're going to the beach," Bella giggles as I let her go with a last kiss to her throat.

"I heard," Alice says before running back up the stairs again.

"Is there anything here you want to take with you?" I ask as I follow my sister.

"Just that phone so Sam can reach us," Bella calls, still in the living room.

I take our collection of identity documents from the safe box in my closet and another spare burner phone just in case and then I join my wife on the back deck to wait for Emmett and Rose.

They aren't long and by the time I hear their approaching thoughts both Alice and Jasper have joined us, luggage at their feet.

"Where are you two heading?" Bella asks and I groan as I read the answer from my brother's thoughts.

"Milan. Fashion week," Alice says excitedly.

"Lucky you," Bella says with as much enthusiasm as she can muster, which isn't much.

Jasper does not feel lucky. I throw him a small grimace and he echoes the movement along with some rather explicit thoughts on how he felt about Fashion Week.

Emmett and Rosalie appear in the yard a moment later and I fist bump my brother as they come up on the deck to join us.

"Easy as," Emmett tells us. "Stinks but it's done."

"Where is everyone headed?" Rose asks of us all.

"Milan," Alice chirps and for a split second Rosalie thinks she might like to join her.

"We're off to Yellowstone," Emmett grins widely as Rosie huffs.

"We're off to Isle Esme," I tell the group.

"Lucky bastard," Jasper grouses as he takes up his suitcase.

"I so am," I agree as we bid the couple farewell. "We'll be three months. See you in New York for Christmas?" I call as Alice and Jasper run down the yard.

"Christmas in New York," Alice agrees.

"Christmas in New York," Rosie waves as she and Emmett go through the house and out the front door on their way.

"Three months?" Bella asks me, eyes wide.

"I figure three months on our own might be nice," I grin as I swoop down and kiss her hard. "Run with me, beautiful girl?" I ask as I hold out my hand.

"What the fuck is Isle Esme?" she asks as we hit the yard and start to run.

"You tell me where you keep getting cigarette lighters from and I'll tell you all about it," I chuckle.

"My dad always told me never to go into the forest without one. In case I got lost and had to spend the night," she shrugs.

"Smart man," I tell her with a smile. She missed her dad terribly. "So, Isle Esme..." I begin.

* * *

 **So, this is the end.**

 **As I said at the beginning I am toying with a short epilogue. More a drabble about how Bella and the family interact once they are all back in New York for Christmas.**

 **I don't think its absolutely necessary, but if the majority think it might be worth reading I'll post it later.**

 **Cheers, as ever, for reading and for the lovely reviews.**

 **See you in the next one,**

 **Maxi**

 **xxxx**


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